<p>i am going through the dreaded "will i be accepted for my academics or will i get CAPed" phase for UT Austin and i would like some advice. My academics aren't that good, but a strategy i am looking to use would be to apply into the **Geosciences major school **for a higher chance of admission. I would like to know my chances of admission. </p>
<p>Another problem i am strugging is that i dont know if i should apply early as many people tell me, " the earlier you apply the higher chance you have in acceptance as it is a 'first come-first serve' policy". I plan on applying in October after my 3rd final SAT which i hope to bring up to at least the composite score of 1300 math CR combined. My 2nd SAT score is around the 1200 range..</p>
<p>Another dilemma i am struggling with is that i am just above the 25% **rank in my school, im at around **26% or 27%... I go to Clements High school and it is quite a competetive school as it is 40% asian. lol. my GPA is 4.833 out of 6. I am wondering if that 1% or 2% makes that much of a difference? Is it better to apply in December as i would have chance to bring up my high school GPA and raise my rank to be in the **25% **ranking? or should i apply with what i am already after my last SAT..? Although i have heard it is indefinately better to apply early, would raising my Rank and GPA first before applying be a wiser decision than applying with higher % of rank?
some people say it doesnt matter as when you apply you have to keep updating them with your grades so they will decide whether they accept you or not at the end.. </p>
<p>as for ECs: National Honor Society
Yes Club
Junior Achievement Officer
CYS (branch of red cross) officer</p>
<p>i would like to know how accurate my thoughts are and any ideas would help.
please give me your thoughts and advice as it would be highly appreciated.</p>
<p>I would apply early, though not because it's first come first served. It isn't. You will not hear back until late March unless something about your application particularly impresses them (the only non-top ten percent Texas kids I've heard about getting in early are students admitted early to honors programs).</p>
<p>BUT I still say apply early. That way, if your rank falters in the first semester, you can not submit the new info (they don't ask for any info from either semester of senior year if you apply during the fall). If you improve your rank or ECs or SATs during the first semester, you can send in that info and I'm almost positive they will use the new info to evaluate you.</p>
<p>Make the essays good though, they are almost important in the criteria as your entire four years worth of ECs.</p>
<p>The rank is going to hurt you quite a bit even if it only goes up a couple of points. There is no human setting an arbitrary cut off, they just plug your numbers into a formula. So 25% and 26% are essentially identical, though to a human being top-quarter and second-quarter could be the difference between admission and rejection.</p>
<p>I went to an equally competitive high school, and a friend of mine had a 1410 and was around 25%, and he didn't get in. Your going to need to up everything, because Clements already sends a ton of kids, and chances are most of those kids are top 20%.</p>
<p>I have some unfortunate news which you may already know, UT's admission process is not exactly holistic and they are known to neglect students special circumstances(in terms of rank at competitive high schools). UT's primary criterion for admission is class rank, far above SAT's, EC's, essays, etc. Now because you are ranked around the top 25 percent I would focus all of your energy into boosting your SAT scores. If you can manage to raise them above 1400 it will shine light on the fact that your school is competitive. However, an SAT score in the range of 1200-1300 with your class rank will seem fairly average and is lower than many of the Top 15% students who are denied. Again, I don't enjoy telling you this but it is necessary to prepare you for the reality of UT admission. To restate, your best bet for acceptance is to raise your SAT score dramatically in order to "proove" to them how competitive your school is, otherwise I doubt they will see or acknowledge your present circumstances.</p>
<p>That's why they let in one of the highest numbers of kids from all of High Schools. But the reason why they let so many kids in, is because they probably have high test scores but a low rank. When you don't have test scores to negate your low rank, you have very little chance in the UT system. </p>
<p>MidwestMom, your way to optimistic about the admissions process and scale, it is probably the worst thing about UT.</p>
<p>I was just really impressed with the way that they have a particular admissions officer assigned to every high school, so even different high schools here in Ohio had specific and different admissions officers assigned to them.</p>
<p>i am from clements as well the officer should see the difficulty. also your sat should be higher in order to balance the rank
usually people in top quarter have 2100+ on sat so it looks good.
i think some ecs make a difference as well
i am guessing either undeclared or the summer program is probably what they are going to put you in</p>